


Interlude Before Pandemonium

by jisatsumania



Category: Kuroshitsuji | Black Butler
Genre: Demon Deals, Future, Is Vincent really dead?, Love/Hate, M/M, Revenge, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-12
Updated: 2017-03-12
Packaged: 2018-10-03 07:11:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10238705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jisatsumania/pseuds/jisatsumania
Summary: Sebastian and Ciel return from Germany by train. The young master is haunted by the words spoken in Baron Diedrich's office and tries to escape the thoughts that make him doubt his father."Hell is the highest reward that the devil can offer you for being a servant of his." - Billy Sunday





	

The sun was setting behind the mountains, casting long shadows over the valley. With its descent, it left the sky tainted orange and blue - the clouds on fire - lit and enveloped by a pink shine.

 

Light was being sucked out of the world.

 

His blue eyes didn't blink as the fading sunset fell upon them.

 

The train puffed, continuing its rhythmical journey into Austria. This feeling had been bothering him all day: uneasiness in the bottom of his stomach and the fall of the night intensified the itch of dread under his skin.

 

Ciel pushed the half-empty cup of tea with his gloved fingers and sighed. The mountains were turning into shadowy, shapeless masses. How they gave off the impression of imprisonment. He was surrounded either way but fancied himself a mouse ruling over maze or a trap. Better yet, he'd almost built it himself.

 

            "Shall I call on them to take away your dinner, my lord?"

 

He looked at his reflection bathed in golden light, head tilted toward the window and hair covering half of his face. Ciel saw it now, what Baron Diedrich had remarked a couple of days earlier.

 

            "Leave it."

The picture he'd seen in the Baron's study, the way his father seemed to wear the face of another as a disguise. He didn't remember Vincent that way. That deceitful gaze - the Baron had noticed quickly and with faint traces of horror around his brows, how it had taken roots in Ciel.

 

Sebastian sat across from him, partly relieved of preparing the dinner since the train staff took care of that, however with his coat folded beside him and his sleeves rolled up, he seemed rather relaxed, casual, flipping through some book he'd picked up at the station before they had departed.

 

The fleeting golden rays sank into his amber eyes and they glowed silently as he blinked over the book. He watched as his young master stood up in a swift, seemingly angry motion and drew red curtains over the window with a hard nudge to the left, his face shrouded in the suddenly shade-filled compartment, a rather telling expression on it.

 

            "Human bonds have always fascinated me," Sebastian said, as he snapped the book shut and set it aside.

 

There was still enough light creeping in from behind the curtain. Ciel could very well tell him to be silent but instead he sat back down, looking into the discarded teacup. The liquid was full of tiny circles from the vibration of the train. Time would never reverse its course; events could be rewound to save his family.

 

            "What does it feel like, young master?" Sebastian asked as he helped Ciel take off his long coat.

 

In the semi-darkness, the boy lifted his gaze and didn't look away. Steady defiance. 

 

            "Walking around half-empty, spilling what's left through that gash in your chest?"

 

He remembered the blazing sky, the heat. "Like hell."

 

            "Most fitting, I'd say. This wretched earth is surely a playground for the demonic. After all, we were cast down to burn under its fertile shell long before you creatures ever set foot on it."

 

There had been something before hell.

 

Ciel shut his eyes, feeling the heaviness of his lids. The food had been forgotten on the table, barely touched and growing cold. He remembered back when he noticed things like leaves changing color, the warm air of the spring right when the snow melted in the backyard and when he ate out of hunger. Those delicious, shared meals, laughter filling the mansion. How it all tasted like dirt ever since. Bitter and dull.

 

Nowadays, he starved for the flesh and blood of those who had buried his family, who had condemned him to live under the watchful eyes of eternal corruption.

 

As Ciel was put to bed in his comfortable couchette he thought about how he'd never seen them go to rest into the ground. How fitting it was, to have a thing from the fiery gallows lay hands on him. Ciel wondered if he had that same look in his eyes when he plotted and awaited the day of revenge, as Sebastian did when he stared down at him in the darkness.

 

            "That's why you're always so tired," Sebastian's soft whisper filled his head and he drew breath with weariness. The night changed his behavior.

 

Each time he was on the verge of falling asleep, Ciel thought about never seeing the sunrise again. And he felt those arms wrap around the small of his back, pulling him closer, fingers running through his hair.

 

            "I'm as good as dead," he whispered and felt soft, warm breathing on his forehead. The devil was patient. His statement was met with an amused hum.

 

His head nestled under Sebastian's chin, he wondered briefly what would happen if the Baron's words were true and his father was truly alive and wandering about, casting the devastating after-image of the suffering imbedded inside into the world. What then? He blinked away the memory of Vincent in his smoke filled meeting room, how he sat legs crossed in that red chair, watching his associates play pool. Those lively, green eyes seemed omniscient, and that smile twisting his lips weren't the ones he said _good night, son_ with. A chill down his spine, he imagining Vincent's tall silhouette scorching in the raging flames.

 

            "Put me to sleep with your worthless words, Sebastian."

 

He didn't want to think about the former dark earl shattering the sky and heaven, one foot into this world among ghosts and the other in the crumbling ruins of hell.

 

And the demon split its enchanting jaws open to sing a lullaby.


End file.
